It's Okay, Bud
by AHeartForStories
Summary: Toothless has a nightmare and relives something from his past. When he wakes up, Hiccup is there for him. POST-HTTYD


_I've Always been curious as to what Toothless' past was like. As I don't see the creators of the movies/tv-shows whipping up something to give us an answer, I decided to write this because I was curious._

 _That and the world needs more Hictooth in it._

 _Hictooth bromance is life. Obviously._

* * *

 **It's Okay, Bud**

 _The night was dark, the night was safe._

 _Or that was what his mother would always say._

 _Like the nocturnal creatures that they were, they woke up when all the dangers of the world went to sleep. Other and bigger dragons, scary humans with their gleaming and sharp weapons, monsters ceased to exist as soon as the sun went down._

 _When the moon rose and the stars would shine bright, that was when they woke up. As everything went to sleep and the sky became dark, they would live and thrive._

 _While dark shades of blue and purple still tinged the sky above, Mother would softly nuzzle her young fledgling awake, rousing him from his deep slumber and what pleasant and fun dreams he must've been having._

 _As she rose to her four paws, he would yawn tremendously and stretch every one of his limbs. His four short legs, his small wings, even his back and tail. The stiffness from sleeping all day now gone, the little dragon sluggishly looked up to see his mother trudge over to the entrance of their den, peering out into the darkening world._

 _The young fledgling wanted to follow, waddling unsteadily on his paws and claws to chase her. However, a tail and two fanned out tailfins stopped him in his tracks, her forest green gaze still focussed on the outside world._

 _Her young one was still so small, she didn't want him to aimlessly wander out there with her. He had been even tinier than other hatchlings at that age and nothing much had changed now that he was a bit older. Her dragon boy was little, clumsy on his feet, his wings weren't all that useful yet either._

 _It did nothing but made her want to protect him even more. Only when she was sure it was safe did she look back at him with her big forest green eyes and purred as her tail moved to the side, her pupils wide and kind._

 _The fledgling joined her side eagerly, nearly tripping over his own four feet. Her loving gaze followed him warily until he was by her side and purred, rubbing himself up against his mother's front paw. As he mewed, she reached downwards to nuzzle him again in a soft greeting._

 _Confident that her kit was awake and on steadier feet tonight, she stepped outside of the cave, her eyes never leaving his big pupiled and lime green ones._

 _This was a big night. It would be his first time outside of the safety of their den._

 _Granted, it had taken quite a while longer with him than with others his age, but finally the day had come._

 _They would be taking baby steps, very small baby steps, but his mother was certain he would one night spread those mighty wings their species were known for and take off to the sky alongsides her._

 _They would be soaring through the clouds soon. She was sure of that._

 _The pup wasn't quite certain what to make of this as his mom waited expectantly, pupils wide, fins on the back of her head up and perking. She was waiting for her son and that gave the boy the courage he needed to take his first step into the unknown and face the outside world he's been dying to meet._

 _His young mind was reeling with excitement, his small heart thumped loudly and quickly in his chest. After daring one tiny paw outside, the rest soon followed and the fledgling was fast to run around. No longer inside the dark cave, the kit was free to stare and awe at the big world all around him._

 _All of these tall trees, the big and dark bushes, nocturnal animals lurking about, the many bugs buzzing around, everything but the latter was so much bigger than him. There truly was a huge world out there, one so much larger than the den he had always known up until now._

 _He wanted to explore it all._

 _But before he could run right off into a random direction, the small dragon boy's mother quickly stopped him, using her snout to scoop him right up and gently push him back when he tried to go for it, wings flapping wildly._

 _He felt disappointed, crooning and whining in tone to let it be known, but she didn't buy it. Instead she lightly pushed him down the path she wanted him to take, which would lead to a shallow lake with fresh water._

 _That was as far as she wanted him to go for now. In her oppinion, even that was stretching it a bit._

 _The fledgling strutted along happily, head held high as if he wanted everyone to know that this was his very first time outside and he couldn't be prouder. Mother kept a close eye on him, but couldn't deny the certain hilarity her son's walk held, so proud and yet still so unbalanced on all fours._

 _When he hatched, he wasn't as strong as the other hatchlings on the nesting ground, something other parents had made quite clear to her at the time. The only reason they could've left for safer dens was because she was able to carry him as he couldn't yet fly, not as well as her, but that sure didn't stop him from being just as curious as his fellows._

 _Reaching the body of water, he quickly bounced towards it and stared at his own reflection for the first time in his short life._

 _It was quite a discovery to find. To see that lime green gaze stare back at him and recognizing it as his own. When the fins on top of his head twitched, so did the reflection's. When he blinked, so did the boy staring straight back it him. When he moved closer for a sniff, so did the other Night Fury._

 _The fledgling's mother stayed by his side, watching in amusement how her boy tried to get to know his own reflection. This strange meeting was only interrupted by a frog as it broke through the surface of the water, which quickly caught his attention instead._

 _Taking the lurking stance of a predator, though in a more playful manner, the dragon pounced onto the frog as it skipped away, leaving him to get a mouthful of icy cold water instead._

 _To say that was a shock would've been an understatement._

 _Her eyes narrowing in amusement, she was quick to gently bite down on the back of her fledgling's neck and back with her gums, pulling him out of the chilly water he had been splashing around in with a panicked frenzy, though it was low enough for him to stand in with even his short legs._

 _Mother put him back down on the grassy ground and he shook himself, trying to get every last drop of water off his person._

 _Of course, as young logic would dictate, being dry just made him want to jump back into the water again._

 _That's exactly what he did. With an excited croon did he leap back into the cold, the inner fiery core any dragon was born with was all that kept him warm, and he all but submerged himself completely. His mother held a paw up to protect herself from the chilly droplets he send everywhere in his playing, but it did not obscure her view of her son wildly playing in the lake._

 _Though she had originally brought him here for a drink, she couldn't argue with the results she got instead._

 _He was only her first kit, she was a dragoness that had only just reached adulthood herself, but she had seen plenty of other young playing in the water. This should've been no surprise._

 _Growing playful herself, she pushed her fledgling back into the water when he tried to crawl out of it for a second jump, causing him to quickly retaliate by splashing water back at her with his tailfins. Small as they were, he got but a few good droplets on her, something she quickly outdid him with a single plash of her own. Had he still been dry, she would've completely soaked him._

 _The young dragon mewed in joy and when she leaned in closer with her snout, he quickly rubbed his against her, nuzzling together. He was quite an affectionate boy._

 _Suddenly it all ended much too soon._

 _The fledgling didn't know what was wrong when his mother pulled away and sniffed the air, her wide pupils now turned to narrow slits. What was up he could not know, just that it alarmed his mother. By instinct, young and immature as his were, he knew they weren't safe anymore and crawled to hide underneath his mother, where he had always known it to be safe._

 _There was a scent. He wasn't too familiar with it, so he didn't recognize it, but she did and she knew it could mean nothing good. She smelled metal, she smelled sweat, the smells her nose picked up on could only belong to one specific species._

 _Danger was the source of it._

 _Her fledgling wasn't safe here, she knew that much. Her boy needed to go back to the den, back where he would be safe and sound, where nothing could harm him._

 _So she stepped aside and pushed him away with her snout and not like the affectionate taps from before either. Mother pushed him back in the direction they came from, hoping he'd run right back to safety. She even crooned and growled, trying to get him to move as he stumbled over his own four feet._

 _Mother could only just get him to scurry underneath the nearest bush when they suddenly burst forth from the shadows. They were large, ugly, and hairy monsters yelling something in a language neither one of them understood, but they were words belonging to only one sort of creature._

 _"Hoard was right! A Night Fury! They do exist!"_

 _"Look at that magnificent beast!"_

 _"Its hide will fetch us a nice price on the market for sure."_

 _They shouted in their strange words things he couldn't yet understand. Their torches created terrifying shadows across their faces and caused their metal weapons to gleam dangerously in the light._

 _Mother didn't panic, she knew exactly what to do. Rearing her wings up and growling in warning, she made herself seem bigger than she really was. Her eyes were narrowed as she glared daggers at the three men. Humans, as she had correctly identified them before._

 _It was a warning at first, when she released gasses in her mouth to ignite and create the telltale lavender glow, causing a deafening whistling sound to ring through the air the longer it charged._

 _She wanted to be left alone, but their predators didn't take any chances when they heard these supposed rumours that lead them here. The fledgling hiding safely in the shrubbery was almost trampled on, going unnoticed by the large Viking men as four more were sneaking up behind her._

 _"The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself! Right here in front of us!"_

 _"We can't let it go!"_

 _The young dragon boy couldn't understand what they were saying, but he could see even more weapons gleaming in the darkness._

 _They were surrounded, Mother had no idea how many there were._

 _The fledgling cowered in terror. Never before, in his short life, had he ever known such fear. He worried for his mom, worried for himself. They were thoughts, worries, fears no one so young should ever know._

 _He didn't stick around to see what would happen._

 _His mother, knowing they were cornered and would be taken down if she attempted to take flight, backed up and knocked her offspring far away with the swipe of her tail, simply hoping she'd be able to hit him through all those leaves and branches. Her actions were taken as an attack when she managed to hurl a fullgrown man away aswell._

 _It hurt, oh, it hurt. The impact of both the tail and the ground, the bruises he'd surely have as the skin of draconic young ones weren't quite as tough as they were in their teens and certainly not as their adult's, the thin streak of blood she drew on his chest, they all hurt tremendously to the runt of a fledgling._

 _But he understood why his mother did it. She wanted him to run and so that's what he did._

 _As fast as his usually clumsy feet could carry him did he sprint back towards the den, his poor heart beating fiercely and his small lungs soon burning. The sound of a plasma blast being fired tore through the air and so did the ear-piercing cry of a Night Fury in pain, but he never once looked back._

 _He reached the den in record time and felt relief._

 _Home was warm. It was safe, it was love._

 _Running inside, the small boy quickly hid in the shadows, trusting his jetblack hide to help him blend in. Only there did he allow himself to calm down, to let his pulse and breathing ease up, but he didn't think of ever leaving this safe spot._

 _And then he waited for his mother to return, sure that it wouldn't take too long._

 _He waited and waited. Hours passed, which was truly an eternity for someone of his age, but all he could do was wait some more._

 _Daring to take a peek outside of his hiding spot, he cautiously tiptoed his way to the front entrance of the cave he and his mother had called home, but still saw no sign of her. Not in the sky, not between the trees or in the bushes, she was nowhere to be found._

 _All he saw was the sun once again rising, announcing the dawning of a new day._

 _He called out to her, going as loud and as long as his vocals would allow it, for however many times he could still use his voice. It was a sound any Night Fury driven by maternal or paternal instincts would immediately pick up on for miles, but silence was his only answer._

 _The small fledgling was alone._

 _A concept so unfamiliar to him, he simply curled up around himself and waited some more._

* * *

"Hey, Toothless..."

He could hear a voice calling out to him, using the very same language those monsters did.

Except this one sounded different. Though still obviously a male's, this one was younger, softer, worried, and almost familiar.

"Toothless, Bud."

There it was again and it seemed to be pulling him from this deep abyss he was trapped in. He clung to it like a lifeline, hoping to be pulled out of this discomforting darkness. Listening to it brought him a strange sense of solace.

"Toothless!"

Yet now it sounded panicked.

Shocked awake with a voice tormenting his sensitive hearing, the Night Fury known by such name raised his head up quickly in alarm, swiftly looking towards the source of the near hysteric sound in the eye.

He met bright forest green eyes, but they weren't his mother's.

They were Hiccup's.

Noticing that his dragon and best friend was finally awake, the young boy smiled in what could only be called relief. Sighing as his lips curled upwards, he wrapped his slim arms around the darker one's neck, embracing him for as much as that was possible.

Toothless let him and took this moment to let his heart calm down and his breathing even out again. The bittersweet and terrible images of his dream were fresh in his mind, replaying over and over again, so Hiccup's embrace was a welcome one.

He was such an affectionate young boy.

"There we go, Bud. You were having a nightmare! I guess, dragons can have those too." The 15 year old stated when he pulled away, soon placing a hand under his chin to scratch him in a more comforting manner than usual on just the right spot, where he knew Toothless liked it best.

The dragon would've enjoyed it, would've let his rider's touch comfort him as Hiccup did always know just where to scratch. Except then he suddenly smelled something worrying, something that caused his pupils to narrow in alarm and sniff the air.

It was the metalic stench of blood and burnt flesh.

It was subtle, barely even noticeable, but it was there and it was unmistakable.

Sniffing the air, the Night Fury was quick to trace the source back to his human. That worried him. Fearing he might be injured somehow, Toothless pushed his snout against the boy in every angle he could reach in his search of this elusive wound, getting up from the heavy stone slab he called his bed.

"Tooth-Toothless. I'm... What're you...?" The dragon pretty much knocked him over with that little force he exerted, causing him to back away from his best friend, obviously favouring his right hand.

That's when he knew he had found the source. The blood lightly seeping through the sleeve was all the evidence he needed.

Whining and crooning in worry, Toothless nudged the limb to get the teen to show it to him. Hiccup did so, though very reluctantly. He knew there was no hiding this from him.

If he wanted to see it, the dragon could even tear the shirt right up to get to what was ailing his rider. It wouldn't be the first time Hiccup lost a shirt, a vest, or even a pair of pants in Toothless' endeavours to figure out what was wrong with him or what he was trying to hide.

Rolling the sleeve up, he showed what look like a nasty bitemark that looked like it had been burned aswell. It was ugly and it must hurt terribly. The tears the Night Fury just noticed his rider had been trying to blink away confirmed that.

Unfortunately, he recognized the shape of the bite as one he'd make himself. In an instance did guilt nag at his heart and he drew away from him.

In his sleep, suffering from that terrible nightmare, he must've bitten his rider when he came over to comfort him, burning him in the process when a shortlived fire was accidentally ignited in a misjudged attempt to fend off whatever danger plagued him in his sleep.

Toothless was angry with himself, furious even. Hiccup had already lost his leg just months ago, was he trying to make him lose an arm too?! For comforting him?! Humans already had such few limbs to lose!

"Toothless, Bud." Of course, the human quickly picked up on his dragon's guilt and self-loathing for hurting his own rider.

He tried to approach him, tried to lay his hand on his snout, but the Night Fury drew away from him each time. Instead he gestured towards the boy's door, most likely trying to tell him to get his still slumbering father, or anyone that could help with his injury, without harming him even more.

But the boy was stubborn and wasn't about to let Toothless blame himself for something he had no fault in.

So after finally cornering the dragon in the corner of their room, Hiccup made sure to capture him in another embrace, freezing Toothless in his place in fear of hurting his rider again.

Crooning in confusion, Toothless wasn't quite sure what to think when Hiccup kept his arms around the dragon, insisting on keeping the hug going. Didn't he know the Night Fury did nothing but hurt him?!

But it was a comforting feeling to have his trusted rider and friend so close. Calming down, the dragon settled down on the wooden floor, Hiccup following by falling to his knees. His prosthetic hadn't even been pulled on properly in his hurry to wake him.

"Toothless..." Now a little calmer, Hiccup allowed himself to pull away from him and the teen looked him back in the eye again, placing his hands on his chin.

"You had a nightmare, Bud. It happens. You should see what my dad does when someone wakes him up from one. The last time I tried I was twelve. I'm lucky all I got was a black eye and still got to keep all my teeth!" He chuckles, trying to keep the mood light.

He wanted Toothless to know that he wasn't angry, that he didn't blame him for the burning pain in his right forearm. All things considered, it was just a nip compared to other bites.

"Everyone has a bad dream once in a while, even dragons. I should've just been a little more careful when waking you up. So no, it's not your fault." Scratching him under his chin again, Hiccup tried to make sure Toothless knew this.

"Besides, I'm a Dragon Rider! If I can't handle a bite or a burn or two, I am hardly qualified to run the Berk Academy, right?" Hiccup was still smiling, but Toothless drew his head away, snorting dismissively.

"Don't be like that, Bud! It's really not your fault. Would you blame me if I were to kick you in the snout with my metal leg if you were to wake me up from a nightmare? No, 'course not! So I don't blame you either." Another attempt was made to soothe the dragon's guilt, but he could be just as stubborn as his rider sometimes, if not more.

No longer listening, Toothless diverted his attention to the injury on his rider's arm, gingerly poking the tip of his forked tongue out to try and at least clean the wound the only way he knew how. Or alleviate the pain a little.

"Night Fury saliva with healing properties, huh? You know, I was actually kidding when I gave Snotlout that bowl a little while back. But what do you know, he believed me! And then he told other people the same thing. For a price, of course." A small laugh left the boy, but it hardly seemed to keep his Night Fury from continuing on with his task, licking up the blood even when it had slowed down significantly in these past few minutes.

Another sigh left Hiccup when Toothless didn't seem to be listening anymore, not interested in being 'tricked' to feel better by his rider's convincing words.

Though not a fan of dragon slobber, he couldn't deny the almost soothing affect it seemed to have, once the initial additional stinging had faded away. Maybe there really was some truth to his earlier joke?

But there was something a little more pressing that needed to be addressed right now. Something more important than questioning the healing properties of his dragon's drool.

Pushing himself up on his metal and bare feet, he searched for the saddle he had stashed away somewhere in their room and the bags attached to it. Rummaging inside, he found a roll of bandage stuffed inside in case of emergency and made quick work of his right forearm with Toothless' lime green gaze glued to his back.

Taking care of it barely took a few moments. It was quite lazily done and only messily and loosely wrapped around his arm, but he planned on seeing Gothi later today for the burn anyway.

With that now done, Hiccup returned to Toothless, settling down on the wooden boards between his two front legs and leaning back against the other's neck, he resumed the scratching of the Night Fury's chin. This time he did croon and closed his large eyes upon the touch.

"I wish you could tell me about it, Bud. About the nightmare, I mean." Hiccup spoke up once again while he lowered his hand as he scratched, successfully luring his dragon into placing his head on his lap.

Toothless seemed to be growing more comfortable as a deep sigh left him in contentment. At least the human boy was finally getting somewhere.

"I can tell you all about my dreams, both bad and good, and I know you understand me. But you can't tell me and that's just not fair." Drawing his hand away from his chin, Hiccup instead started stroking the top of his head instead.

Toothless responded with a dismissive snort, one that Hiccup could only take as his best bud telling him that it didn't matter much too him.

"But you still know I care, right? And that, if I could understand you, I'd listen?" He asked and got a tongue to the face in confirmation, causing another fit of soft laughter to erupt from him.

"I know that I can't listen to you like you can to me and I can't fight off whatever you're scared off like you can for me, but I want to help in any way I can." The stroking continued as he held this one-sided conversation. Toothless listened as he stared ahead, his head still resting on his rider's small lap as the images of his terrible dream continued to play in the back of his mind on repeat.

Sometimes he did wish he could talk to the human boy. Having never known his own mother, a part of Toothless was certain that Hiccup would've loved to hear about the one parent his Night Fury had ever known.

"Kinda like this! Or whenever you have another nightmare and I don't wake you up in time, feel free to drag me out of bed if you need some company. Whichever limb is nearest, arm, leg, stump, just bite down and drag me out." Though he said it in a joking manner, that he would be there for his best bud was a genuine promise.

When Toothless gave him an amused huff, as if saying 'yeah, like that's ever going to happen', Hiccup continued.

"What I'm trying to say, Bud, is that I'm here for you. Weither you want someone to roar at or destroy things with in a massive blast that would make the twins proud or just to play with. I'm here for you." The stroking kept up its pace.

"So it's okay, Bud. This wound right here on my arm? You fall off cliffs for me and put up with my reckless behaviour on the ground and in the sky. So really, that's just a small price I'm willing to pay to make sure you'll always be okay too." Toothless couldn't lift his head to look at his rider in this position, but it was clear that he was listening closely, paying attention to every word Hiccup had to say.

"I know it probably sounds cliche and cheesy, but you're my best friend, Toothless. Just like you take care of me, I want to do the same thing for you. That's what best friends do. Well, that and laughing at eachother's miserable failures in life." At that last part a short chuckle left the boy and the dark dragon felt his own usual glutteral laugh boiling in the back of his throat as such scenarios managed to make their way to the front of his mind, briefly scaring the nightmares away.

But that didn't change the fact that they were words he needed to hear, wanted to hear, though he never knew so himself. And he would only accept them from this one scrawny Viking in the entire Archipelago.

Lifting his head up, Hiccup scooting away to let him do so, Toothless gave him but one small, and still slobbery, lick on his cheek to show his appreciation. The teen laughed as he tried to wipe it away, though his cheek would definitely still be sticky come morning, and the Night Fury settled his head back down again, Hiccup retaking his position aswell.

The dragon felt lucky to have befriended this boy, this Viking. Out of all the people in the Archipelago who could've taken him down, who could've spared his life, who could've befriended him and returned him his flight, he was glad it had been Hiccup.

Despites the monsters in his dreams and the atrocities they had committed, though he had suffered such a great loss when he was so young, he knew he still had a family and a friend in one Hiccup Haddock.

The nightmares could come and scare him every night if they wanted to, that would never change this simple fact.

"Now let's get some sleep, Bud. Astrid expects us at the academy early tomorrow morning for another one of her training exercises." Hiccup stated as he sank lower against his dragon, prepared to spend the rest of the night sleeping right here on the floor with him.

Toothless purred in agreement and repositioned the foreleg closest to Hiccup to wrap it around the boy and keeping him close.

The human teen smiled as he laid against the Night Fury, one arm thrown over his neck and his other hand resting on top of his head as it was still settled on his lap.

"G'night, Toothless." Confident that the dragon could resume his slumber now without being plagued too badly by nightmares he couldn't tell his rider about, Hiccup spoke to him one last time before closing his eyes and deciding to sleep the rest of the night away together with him.


End file.
